2007 Chevrolet Impala

Comments

I purchased a 2006 Impala new in July of 06...GM calls the upolstery problem "pilling." My dealership after 4,000 miles of driving attempted to blame this breakdown of the fabric on my fat a..and said that I was the only one they'd seen. After driving away from the dealership I happened to spot a General Electric administrative plant in town that had leased about 2 dozen Impalas so I stopped in to compare notes with a few of their drivers...The first car I saw had 34,000 miles on the odometer and had total breakdown of the cloth on the driver's back.At my yacht club I spotted another Impala (also high mileaged) purchased from a lease company and sure enough...the same problem...The back of the seat looked like a cat clawed it to threads.

I went back to the dealership with that information and somewhat proved my point...Informing them that the threads were breaking at 4,000 and shouldn't be... they agreed to replace the drivers' seat...

At 8,000 miles on the odometer(4,000 more) I saw the threads coming apart again...and this time also on the passenger's seat as well...They were replaced.

At 12,000 or thereabouts again I had my seat replaced.

THREE SEAT COVERS...Car now has 27,000 give or take and no problems other than normal wearing.

I've found cloth breakdowns in 2006, 2007, and 2008 models

GM's supplier got a batch of old dried up threads...don't let anybody kid you...This IS UNDER WARRANTY but you'll need to fight for it

There are many of us who've had the very same problems...GM got a very bad batch of cloth in many 06, 07 and 08 models but it doesn't show up right away...I don't know abut the 09 models because I stopped looking.

GM DOES know all about it...Start screaming at your dealership and demand to speak with the regional manager if you don't get anywhere...

What lumbar setting are you using? I was thinking that if you had the lumbar fully engaged, it could be stretching the seatback fabric and causing excessive stress on the threads. Eventually the threads would become fatigued and fail.

My '06 with fabric seats, also purchased in July '06, now has 42,000 miles on it and has no issues. The lumbar in mine is set very mild.

If this pilling is happening to '06's, '07's, and '08's it must be something more than a bad batch of cloth. GM would have discovered and eliminated the issue well before three model years had passed.

I have leather seats on my 2006 SS. Never had a problem. You should have gotten leather. The cloth is probably re-cycled and that's why its pilling. This is what happens when tree huggers get into the car industry. Or maybe it was made in Red China. Hope not.

We just inherited a 2002 Chevy Impala and just broke 40K miles last weekend. Two days ago, I go to start the car....nothing happens. Dash is lit up with SECURITY, SERVICE NEEDED, etc. but neither the A/C nor radio came on. Attempted to jump...still nothing. Have car towed to the local Chevrolet dealership, they tell me the BCM won't talk to their computer and that they won't know anything until that is replaced. They replace it, drive it and check everything out to make sure everything else is alright. They say it's fixed...I pick it up drive it home. The very next time I go to start it up (the following a.m.), it won't start!! This time the A/C and radio are on. Naturally, I call the dealership since I just dropped $500 plus the day before. They tow it back at their expense. Two hours later, I get a call that the "battery is deader than dead" and they'll be *happy* to replace it for $200 and I can pick it up in 45 minutes LOL. Oh, and the guy asked me if the tech mentioned my battery was weak the day before. Um, no...

I can't help but think that this was the original problem and they misdiagnosed. Too coincidental for them to fail at the same time.My fear is I'm going to replace the battery and then discover there is something else amiss.

hello. sounds like the stealership impaled your wallet, hence the name, correct?? if it's a dead battery, take a nice new one over there tomorrow, put it in yourself, and then have them test the vehicle again. if nothing is wrong, demand your $500.00 back for their tech being dumb, ignorant, or a combination of the two. what powers the BCM?? the battery. if they were having issues with the BCM, instead of just yanking out yours and assuming it was bad, maybe they should have tested the battery to see if it was the culprit. if it was the factory, stock, original battery, it's 7 going on 8 years old and should be ready do die anyways. snot nosed techs are dumbed down too much these days. they have no common sense, adhere to the dealer mantra of screwing over the customer, and leaving you violated in the pocketbook. if the tech's computer doesn't tell them what is wrong, they're stumped and can't use their own keen powers of common sense to figure it out. do NOT let this stealership f*** you over this way. my money is on a 70 dollar battery, not a $500.00 failed BCM. electronics act screwy when they cannot be fully powered, and vehicles today are more reliant on computer systems than ever. keep us in the loop, please!! best of luck... john

hi john,thank you so much for your response. yes, you are right about the name i left the car at the dealership over the weekend and plan to talk to the head boss man tomorrow. i will definitely let you know how it goes. you are right about the techs being idiots. the guy i talked to yesterday, said it could probably be jumped but he wasn't sure it would keep running! i don't know if he was trying to scare me, but the car *will* keep running after it's been jumped unless the issue is *not* the battery. comments like those are what frighten me the most! i can't tell if they are dumb or are counting on me to be dumb will keep you posted!!

Went to dealership this a.m. and talked to the service manager. He had a tech test the battery right in front of me and established that the battery had a bad cell. He offered to replace the battery for a discounted price of $59.99 - much better than the original quote of $200!! Also, didn't charge anything for installation/labor. Hopefully all the problems are solved now

hi all. just taking an informal poll. seems the glossy piano black vertical trim piece between the front and back doors has started to peel it's clearcoat off, or something akin to that. anyone else having this unsightly issue?? i only have one of the 4 trim pieces going south on me, but it is enough that i think it looks terrible. anyone go around with the dealer on this? i am ready to, but figured i'd post here first to see if i got a bum trim piece or not. i fear that is not the case, our 98 cavalier did the same thing, albeight after 6 years, not 3. thanks... john in grand haven, mi. black 07 3LT

'07 3LT 61,000 miles. My tire pressure monitoring system is still working, but I had the tires rotated, and they didn't update the tire positions. The right rear is tire goes soft over time, but the monitor says it's the right front.

The DIC says to push the button with the check mark to update tire positions. I do this, the horn toots, and I get a message to the effect that it's updating. But it doesn't work. Am I supposed to do something else, or should it update automatically once you push the button? The manual sheds little light on this. Thanks.

I had that same issue on a 2006 Impala last year. It was still under warranty and not a question asked by the servicing dealer. All four doors were affected; they ordered parts and replaced without ANY hesitation. Clark

'07 LT3 61,000 miles. Our door trim is holding up okay. Two other things though: the chrome on the lower front grille went bad, and the dealer replaced it under warranty with no questions. We also have rust starting underneath the chrome trim on the trunklid. It's leaving a muddy-colored streak as it dribbles down. I've seen other Impalas with the same problem. We're in the rust belt. Anyone else have this?

hi ken. i'm in grand haven, michigan, so that makes me rust belt too. thankfully no rusticles on mine yet, but thanks for a head's up on a place to watch. i think i'll be visiting my stealership this week, even though my 3/36 is a few thousand past. my chrome on the grille looks like crap too. good ol' plastic plating. ida been happier with a black or silver painted surface there instead of plated plastic.

i'd check your build date, the earliest 2007's came out in august/september 2006, and it would be like the general to say that "your car was built 36 months and 2 weeks ago... so sorry". keep us abreast of your situation.

> Yeah, me too. I don't know what reaction that you'll get but it might be the same that I got when I asked about the unsightly corrosion on the the little center caps in the 18" SS wheels. I bought the extended warranty. My car had about 45,000 mi on it when i inquired and they told me that if I had reported it within the 36,000 miles that they could have taken care of it. Now those to replace are about $35.00 a piece. Very disappointing and add the flaking of the black trim pieces makes my 2007 Impala top of the line Chevy look like poop.

hey all. yep, i finally joined the fraternity of clunking ISS members. mine started several thousand miles ago, just past the 3/36, now sitting at 46,745, and of course i didn't drive it at all (that fell to the working wife). she has finally noticed it especially when the impala first gets going, but it does have the GM clunk most of the time. armed with as much info as i can about this defective item, what's the chances of getting this replaced by the company's coin? from everywhere i heave read, the general just absolutely can't seem to get this item right. i know there's an updated ISS, but has the new one been a proven winner, or just a stopgap? looking forward to hearing your feedback. thanks much... john..... 07 3LT

I have an 07 Impala SS, recently it started making a clanking noise when I het a bump, and a clunk, clunk, clunk noise when I went over 60, the sound was coming from the right rear corner, so I replaced the strut, now it makes a creak when I hit a bump, and the vehicle starts to shake a little at high speed, I am at a loss as to what is wrong here and I would greatly appreciate any help that anyone could give me. Thank you.

To get to the battery, you have to unbolt and remove the black support bar that runs over the battery. Then unbolt and move the fuse box. Then unbolt the bars that secure the battery to the battery tray. Then it is a matter of wiggling the battery to carefully remove it from the car.

I am new to this forum but after reading ALOT of the posts here I feel that I am not alone here. The wife and I got a settelment and bought a 2007 Impala, from Keystone Chevrolet here in Tulsa, so that we wouldnt have to worry about having problems with the car. But after having the car for about 1 1/2 years we have replaced the rear tires at least 2 or 3 times, all because of the same problem. The inside 2 or 3 treads keep wearing out down to the cords. Keystone Chevrolet called us on the phone and told us it was time to bring the car in for regular service work, so I thought it would be a good time to have the problem resolved. I asked for the Supervisor of the Service Department to make sure there wouldnt be a problem with having the rear end aligned, since I found out there was a Technical Service Bulletin on the alignment needing to be done on this car when it comes right from the factory. But I was told that you can buy a brand new 2010 Chevy right now and after 12,000 miles there is nothing they can do with out having us pay for the work and/parts. Even if you get the car brand new and there is still the bumper to bumper warrenty on the car. I told the Supervisor there was a Technical Service Bulletin out on this car and I even gave him the TSB on this car and I was told that they cant do anything unless there was a REACLL on these cars. I really liked what I read on another forum that said it seems like Chevrolet isn't going to do anything for the common people like most of us here, but they would fix the cars with the Police Package on them for free. The person also went on to state that it was more of the common people like most of us on here that make up the sales of the Impalas and that a defect is a defect. They stated that it seems like Chevrolet isn't going to do anything about this factory defect because the commom person cant afford the lawyers like the city, state and government can. I have often wondered what would happen if a huge group of the Impala consumers would get together and sign a petition stating that this defect has the potential to kill several of us, if Chevrolet would FINALLY get the idea there could be several lawsuites against them if something isn't done first. I know that the car manufactures are really hurting for money right now the way it is, but several lawsuites against them would surely put Chevrolet out of business and, and in my opinion another great American Iconic company would be no more. General Motors alone has already closed the doors to all the Oldsmobles and Pontiacs plants, will it take another bunch of the people just trying to get some satisfaction for a FACTORY defect for Chevrolet to realize that if we aren't satisfied they too would have to close thier doors? When we first bought the car my wife wasn't working so we hardly used this brand new car we got. But since than she has gone back to work and has to drive like 60 miles one way to get back and forth to work and she has been scared to death to drive this new car for fear of her life that one of these rear tires could blow out while she is traveling on the Interstate doing 75 miles an hour. Now that is for sure an accident in the making. After I told the Supervisor at Keystone Chevrolet and told him that if I have to I will contact the BBB to try and get some satisfaction for this problem. I was in not so many words told go ahead cause they wouldnt fix the problem without charging us to fix it, even with the TSB as well as a recall for the Impalas with the police package, out in this car. I than called Keystone Chevrolet back and talked to who was supposed to be in charge, who really just turned out to be the person in charge of sales, and told him what the problem was and what the Supervisor and I had talked about. Well to make a long story short here I finally was so mad that I told him I wanted his boss to call me back and that if anything happened to my wife not only would they be talking to the BBB but they would also be talking to my lawyer because I would file a lawsuite for them not serviceing this car with the TSB on it. I have yet to hear from the Owner or who ever is in charge of Keystone Chevrolet about this problem, but from what I have read on this forum I could be waiting for ALONG time. Well I hope to be able to post that Keystone Chevrolet did someting good to make this car safe, the way it should have been made from the factory in the first place. Gregory Shepard

Oh yes, I just remembered something else with our 2007 Impala. Every time we had to change a tire that had not been changed we were also told that we would need to replace the Tire Pressure Sensor as well. Well we now need to replace BOTH rear wheel sensors which in told is a cost of around $125 EACH. If these Tire Pressure Sensors aren't changed every time you start the car it will tell you to "Service Tire Monitoring System" and the light for the Tire Pressure will flash and after a time the light stays on all the time. YounGrampy

hi shep. sorry to hear your stealership is effing you over on this situation. my 07 didn't have the alignment trouble alot of other have had, thank God. GM is going to ignore you so you can pay the (up to) 100 bucks or so to get a 4 wheel alignment yourself. it sucks, i agree the car should come from the factory with the ability to drive straight and not have messed up alignment. personally, i would have gotten the car a 4 wheel alignment when you bought a new set of tires. sure, i agree GM should take care of this problem like they did for the cops (without much of a fight!) but apparently we commoners who pay for the cops' salaries aren't important enough. TSB's don't necessarily mean recall to GM (see my 3.9l headlight flicker problem) but in that case GM did have a fix and mine was still under the 3/36 so it was fixed no charge to me. i did have to enlighten my dealer to the TSB though. that was sad. you may want to check out another forum, the NAIOA (www.naioa.com) for more info on your alignment issue and any courses the folks there have taken. i have the ISS problem with my car, but my stealership refuses to help me on that, so i will just lube mine and be pissed off at GM while i do it. they (the ISS) are defective, GM knows it, but is passing the buck right now by going after the ISS manufacturer, saying it's their fault. they counter it was GM's design, they only built them to GM specs. :lemon: hmmmm. as for the TPS, you should be able to recalibrate the sensors so the car knows which tire is at which corner after a rotation. sounds like the tire place was looking for a free windfall at your wallet's expense. unless a sensor goes bad, i don't see a reason to replace. you can find new and used monitors on fleabay all the time for less than a buck and a quarter. good luck with your ride, keep us abreast. peace, john in grand haven, mi

I had the same problem with my 2007 impala. I went through my first set of tires less than 24,000 miles. After 10,000 miles on the new tires, I began to notice the same wear. I took it into the dealership and they re-aligned the cambers. Thought that would solve the problem but I was wrong. My tires continue to wear. I am at 16,0000 miles and by spring I will probablly have to buy new tires. I called GM head quarters to file a complaint but that got me nowhere. I am only grateful that I am leasing the car and can return it in July. I will never buy another GM product again. It is a lossing battle with the Impalas and with GM.

> Me too. 2007 SS. The factory set were dead by 17,000 miles. Dealership said the they never seen a car so out of align. Personally, I don't think it was right out of the box. I live in the Cleveland area. Winter and all that stuff. Second set died about the same. This time it appeared that the right side wore more than the left. Alignment was not the problem. With the third set, I now rotate by crossing the tires instead of front to back. Try that. Maybe that will help. I take care of my cars. I like the car but the tire wear is VERY disappointing. My tire pressure is always checked ta boot.

i have a 07 impala LT 3.5. sometimes when i come to a stop and start to accelerate is hesitates to pick up speed like it should then jurks and drives like it should wat is the problem i have 84000 miles on it

I have a 07 with 47,000 miles doing the same thing. I have taken it to the dealership twice and they have not figured it out. When they test drive it they say it works great and there are no errors on the computer.

The first time they recommended I get injector cleaner that didn't fix it.

The 2nd time (today) I got a line of crap about my trainy fluid was due and old fluid would make it do that. Getting the car back today so I will test drive it. But I don't think thats it either.

47,000 mile tranny fluid making the car jerk on acceleration?? wow, if that's the case, my 98 cavalier with 176k shouldn't even be able to move, LMAO kelvin and ed, you guys might want to stop by the north american impala owners association website (www.naioa.com) and post that question to the group. a bunch of well versed people there. signup is free, and having been on that site for some time, it impresses me that most everyone there has something to contribute. keep us here abreast of anything that happens with your car, good or bad.

Buried somewhere in these posts is my experience with alignments and tire wear. I can see that others are having similar problems. A couple observations having put 60,000 miles on my car in a little over two years. First, I have come to the conclusion that the Impala needs a complete front and rear alignment every 9-12 months regardless of road conditions. Second, the factory specified tires are not suitable for the Impala. Third, the tire pressures specified by GM can be revised with good results.

My old Lumina came with Goodyear Eagle GA's. I thought they were fantastic. They were quiet, lasted forever, and had tremendous traction. I was happy to see the Eagle LS2 on my Impala, because I figured they should be similar. Not so. They were noisy, had poor winter traction, and wore out quickly.

I talked to my dealer, and they said the General Altimax HP was a better tire for the Impala. When it came to replace the Goodyears, I went with the Generals. I have been pleased. They seem to be smoother riding, with no loss in handling, and are quieter. The other detail the dealer said to try was to run the tires at about 35psi as opposed to the 30psi recommended by GM in '07.

The different brand of tires and the higher pressure seems to have made a big difference, because I don't see the uneven wear that plagued the Goodyears. I only have about 10,000 miles on the Generals, but they look promising.

The tires on my Original Impala 07 got messed up in 30K miles. I never knew about this issue until this day. Anyways, I put all 4 new tires (Yokahama) and also took a lifetime Alignement/rotation/balancing plan from Firestone and have been taking advantage of it everytime I go for an oil change. So my tires are fine now. Just thought you all should know.